An “eCall” is an emergency voice call, to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) or other authorized emergency call center, sometimes supplemented with accident or incident related data. One set of eCall data may include a vehicle's identity, geographic location, direction of travel, and other information that can be used by the emergency services to locate the victim of an accident or crash, and thus save more lives and minimize the severity of injuries through early medical intervention or other assistance.
An eCall wireless network access device, referred to in the ETSI and 3GPP specifications as an eCall capable MS (mobile station) or UE (user equipment), may be designed and configured to access both eCall and non-emergency voice and data services. Alternatively, an MS may be configured for “eCall only” emergency calls. “eCall only” in this context also permits certain test calls and reconfiguration call access, as further explained below.
In this document, the term “vehicle” will be used to include, but is not limited to, motor driven vehicles. For example, a vehicle may be a bicycle. Further, “motor driven” includes but is not limited to internal combustion engines, diesel engines, electric vehicles, hybrid electric, and any other source of locomotion existing or later invented. Some acronyms used herein are defined as follows:
IVS data modem—The eCall data modem located in the IVS used to transmit the MSD information to the PSAP and receive feedback from the PSAP.
PLMN—Public Land Mobile Network
HLR—Home Location Register
MM—Mobility Management
MSD—Minimum Set of Data to be sent from the IVS to the PSAP. This includes the location information of the vehicle, direction of travel, number of passengers with fastened seat belts, vehicle information, and other information deemed relevant for the emergency service agencies.
PSAP—Public-Safety Answering Point.
PSAP data modem—An eCall data modem located in the PSAP used to receive MSD information from the IVS data transmitter and transmit feedback to the IVS.